Major crash every two years, data shows

A major crash happens, on average, every two years on the notorious 18km stretch of State Highway 94 from the Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound.

There have been six serious crashes causing injury or death since 2013, including one in which a man died after his car rolled down a bank and into a river.

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NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said the crash data included the period when the Covid-19 pandemic closed New Zealand’s borders, reducing traffic on the road.

A separate data set — for 2009 to 2018 — recorded 76 crashes on the stretch between the eastern entrance of the Homer Tunnel and Milford Sound, killing three people and seriously injuring eight.

About 40% of these crashes happened between 2016 and 2018.

In 2021, the road’s speed limit was reduced to 80kmh — from a mixture of 100kmh and 80kmh limits — after a public consultation showed broad support for the lower limit.

Advised safe maximum speeds for sections of the road are radically lower than this. One speed sign, on a bend near the Homer Tunnel, advises a maximum speed of 35kmh.

Since 2013, there have been seven deaths and 49 serious injuries on other sections of SH94, the Milford Road, which stretches 119km between Te Anau and Milford Sound.

Eighteen crashes were due to losing control on a bend and six were head-on collisions.

mary.williams@odt.co.nz